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                      -- Racing Is Not Delivering What the Younger Demographic Craves

"I know what you’re saying: Oh boy, another column about young people and racing.

'They have short attention spans, so we need to give them action, like slot machines do.'

'They like concerts and bands, and night clubs, so we have to change the on-track experience to meet these needs.'

‘Once we get them in the building, they will get the “bug” just like we did when we were their age.’

I promise you won’t read anything like the above in the following as a solution. Scouts honor.

"Millennials" is a term we often read or hear, without really knowing what it means. Generally, a millennial is simply someone born between 1980 and 2000. In the U.S. alone, there are 87 million of them, and because they are soon to make up upwards of 1/3rd of all retail spending in the country, they are a big reason every new TV show seems to feature a millennial with amazing skills, working for the FBI, CIA, or something else that is totally unbelievable for almost anyone that age. Appealing to this demographic is big dollars–bigger than ever before.

Like WalMart or any other retailer, casino gambling (and horse racing for that matter) has been trying their best to attack the market. Getting these kids (I call anyone under 35 a kid, forgive me) to gamble is paramount. But, a funny thing has been happening. They aren’t gambling like they used to."